7/27/06 ~ Real Adventurers

On the Rio: UB40 ~ Cherry Oh Baby. Yea, Yea Yea Yea

I was reading an article in the April 2006 Smithsonian Magazine I brought along about some real-life women adventurers of today. They are photographers Michele Westmorland and Karen Huntt who decided to trace the steps of two American women, Caroline Mytinger and Margaret Warner, who in the 1920s set out from San Francisco, with little more than art supplies and a ukulele, to explore the largely unmapped and headhunter/cannibal inhabited jungle isles of the Coral Sea in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. They are currently trying to raise money to make a film documentary of their journey.

I feel so pampered compared to their adventure, both now and in the 1920s, and realize I really have nothing to complain about. They contracted several diseases on the trip (in the 1920s), including “Shanghai feet”, but I haven’t found out exactly what that means.

I really want to read Mytinger’s book "New Guinea Headhunt" now. And her artworks from these adventures are currently at the University of California’s Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology in Berkeley. [I may even need to make a side-trip visit there].

I saw my second bicycle accident today. I’m surprised it’s only been 2, considering the density of bicycles and traffic in the city streets. I will never consider riding a bicycle here, especially with the bad experiences I’ve had [cars and bunnies come to mind].

I watched the Johnny Cash DVD “The Man, His World, His Music” last weekend. This beats the “Walk the Line” movie because it is all live clips from his life in 1968-69, and I highly recommend it to all you Cash fans. There is a great full duet with Bob Dylan singing “One Too Many Mornings”. I also hadn’t realized that the song “Ira Hayes” was about a Pima Native American. The footage was quite touching. For those of you who don’t know, I briefly worked at the Pima Indian Reservation outside of Phoenix in the summer of 2005.

Check back soon for my Hong Kong adventure stories. And yes, Carol H, I am taking Eleanor Roosevelt’s advice to "Do something every day that scares you." It seems to be my motto!